The kind of formula milk for babies impacts their weight gain and their future risk of developing obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
Events early in life have long-term consequences on health, and one of the most significant influences is early growth rate. All formulas are not alike. Protein hydrolysate formulas contain pre-digested proteins and often are fed to babies who don't tolerate the intact proteins found in other formulas. It is already known that formula-fed babies gain more weight than breast-fed babies. But what is not known is whether or not this was true for all types of formula milk.
Researchers assigned 2-weeks-old bottle-fed babies to either take a formula based on cow's milk (35 babies) or a protein hydrolysate-based formula (24 babies) in America. The infants drank the formula for seven months. Both types of milk had the same amount of calories but the cow's milk-based formula had less protein.
It was found that those who drank the cow's milk-based formula gained weight faster, more than babies typically do on breast milk. One of the reasons the protein hydrolysate infants had similar growth patterns to breast-fed infants, who are the gold standard, is that they consumed less formula during a feed as compared to infants fed cow's milk formula, the researchers concluded.
Events early in life have long-term consequences on health, and one of the most significant influences is early growth rate. All formulas are not alike. Protein hydrolysate formulas contain pre-digested proteins and often are fed to babies who don't tolerate the intact proteins found in other formulas. It is already known that formula-fed babies gain more weight than breast-fed babies. But what is not known is whether or not this was true for all types of formula milk.
Researchers assigned 2-weeks-old bottle-fed babies to either take a formula based on cow's milk (35 babies) or a protein hydrolysate-based formula (24 babies) in America. The infants drank the formula for seven months. Both types of milk had the same amount of calories but the cow's milk-based formula had less protein.
It was found that those who drank the cow's milk-based formula gained weight faster, more than babies typically do on breast milk. One of the reasons the protein hydrolysate infants had similar growth patterns to breast-fed infants, who are the gold standard, is that they consumed less formula during a feed as compared to infants fed cow's milk formula, the researchers concluded.